{"id":556336,"date":"2026-05-04T18:23:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/winklersart.com\/?p=556336"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:23:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T18:23:56","slug":"this-souvenir-bowl-may-have-commemorated-an-ancient-roman-soldiers-service-at-hadrians-wall-it-was-discovered-on-a-spanish-farm-1900-years-later","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/winklersart.com\/?p=556336","title":{"rendered":"This Souvenir Bowl May Have Commemorated an Ancient Roman Soldier’s Service at Hadrian’s Wall. It Was Discovered on a Spanish Farm 1,900 Years Later"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The artifact is decorated with an illustration of the defensive fortification in northern England, but it was unearthed some 1,200 miles away. A new study suggests the design reflects a soldier\u2019s achievements at the site<\/h2>\n
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\n \"Ellen\n <\/div>\n
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Ellen Wexler<\/p>\n

| Assistant Editor, Humanities<\/span><\/p>\n

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A virtual reconstruction of the Berlanga Cup
\n 3D Stoa\u2014Archaeology and Heritage \/ Cambridge University Press under CC BY 4.0<\/span>
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Archaeologists may have identified the origins of a recently discovered 1,900-year-old bowl decorated with bright red, green, blue and turquoise patterns. These designs appear to depict Hadrian\u2019s Wall, the 73-mile-long fortification that once protected the Roman Empire\u2019s northwest frontier.<\/p>\n

The wall is in northern England, but the bowl was found in Berlanga de Duero, a central Spanish town some 1,200 miles away. Researchers say the artifact may have commemorated a Roman soldier\u2019s service near the wall\u2014and when he returned home, he brought the keepsake back with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was commissioned or purchased by a Roman army officer, either as a souvenir or as a retirement gift,\u201d according to a new study published in Britannia, a journal devoted to the study of Roman-era Britain. The cup dates to between roughly 124 and 150 C.E., according to a statement from the researchers. Based on a lead isotope analysis, they concluded that it was made in northern Britain using local materials. Perhaps he kept it to \u201c[remember] his time and service at one of the monumental frontiers of the empire,\u201d the researchers write.<\/p>\n

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Part of the inscription on the Berlanga Cup<\/p>\n

Susana De Luis \/ Cambridge University Press under CC BY 4.0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cup features an inscription, though some of its letters have been lost to history. The surviving segments read, \u201c[\u2026]RNVMONNOV[\u2026]DOBALACONDERCOMDDDD.\u201d Filling in the gaps, the researchers think these letters once spelled the names of four forts: Cilurnum, Onno, Vindobala and Condercom.<\/p>\n

Archaeologists have discovered artifacts of this kind before. In 1725, an object now known as the Rudge Cup was found near the village of Froxfield in western England, and a few similar items were unearthed in the 20th century. \u201cThe idea of collecting objects as a way of safekeeping memories is extremely old,\u201d Frances McIntosh, a curator at Historic England, said in 2022, when the Rudge Cup went on display.<\/p>\n

These souvenir cups are known as trullae, a type of ancient Roman drinking vessel that was \u201ccharacteristic of Roman military equipment,\u201d per the study. They often featured the names of Roman forts or similar images of Hadrian\u2019s Wall\u2014thought to be some of history\u2019s oldest known depictions of the sprawling fortification. The wall, which began construction in 122 C.E., reached from the Solway Firth on the west coast of Britain across to the Tyne River, near its confluence with the North Sea.<\/p>\n

Measuring 4.5 by 3.1 inches, the Berlanga Cup is the second example of its kind found in the Iberian Peninsula. Unlike previous finds, which only referenced forts on the western side of Hadrian\u2019s Wall, the newly discovered cup names forts on the eastern side. <\/p>\n

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Orthographic display of the cup’s outer surface<\/p>\n

3D Stoa\u2014Archaeology and Heritage \/ Cambridge University Press under CC BY 4.0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUp until this cup, the fact that the forts named [on other cups] were from the west sector of the wall inclined me to think it was perhaps an object type possibly being produced in that western sector only,\u201d Rob Collins, an archaeologist at Newcastle University in England, tells Tom Horne of the blog \u201cA Whole Lot of History.\u201d \u201cThe Berlanga Cup opens up the likelihood of these being made for the entire wall.\u201d<\/p>\n

Souvenirs from tourist destinations, rather than military fortifications, were common throughout the Roman Empire, where they were often owned by \u201cpeople who could not travel to such sites in person,\u201d Maggie Popkin, an art historian at Case Western Reserve University, wrote for Aeon in 2022.<\/p>\n

Much like today\u2019s tourists, the ancient Romans collected tiny replicas of famous monuments and cities, and well-known statues \u201cspawned veritable souvenir industries,\u201d Popkin added. \u201cBy taking ancient souvenirs seriously, we can glimpse how Romans themselves understood their empire and its cultural heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Fun facts: An ancient souvenir stylus<\/p>\n

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  • During excavations between 2012 and 2014, archaeologists unearthed a nearly 2,000-year-old iron stylus in London. <\/li>\n
  • The artifact was inscribed with a message: \u201cI have come from the city. I bring you a welcome gift with a sharp point that you may remember me. I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able [to give] as generously as the way is long [and] as my purse is empty.\u201d<\/li>\n
  • In this inscription, \u201cthe sender acknowledges that it is a cheap gift and wishes that they could have given more,\u201d according to a statement from the Museum of London Archaeology. \u201cIt is the Roman equivalent of \u2018I went to Rome and all I got you was this pen.\u2019\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

    But the researchers don\u2019t think the Berlanga Cup \u201cmerely commemorated a visit\u201d to Hadrian\u2019s Wall. Instead, they argue that it was a tribute to a soldier\u2019s experience serving at the site\u2014perhaps an object that he purchased as a memento, or a gift he received from his superiors or fellow soldiers.<\/p>\n

    Based on their analysis, the researchers concluded that the inscription may have been added after the cup was produced, suggesting that a buyer may have requested the engraving when he purchased it.<\/p>\n

    \u201cIt is not only crafted with metals, but also expensive enamels, and later on customized,\u201d co-author Jes\u00fas Garc\u00eda S\u00e1nchez, an archaeologist at the Archaeological Institute of M\u00e9rida in Spain, tells Live Science\u2019s Kristina Killgrove. \u201cIt is definitely not an industrial product.\u201d<\/p>\n